Heidi Rummel, Denitra Jones-Goodie, Laura Donaldson/Courtesy of USC Gould)

Jones was released from Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood. Laura Donaldson and Mark Fahey, students from USC Gould School of Law’s Post-Conviction Justice Project, argued that Jones had been forced at gunpoint by her abusive then-boyfriend to rob and shoot two drug dealers, one of whom was killed.

The students had been working on the case for several years.

The Post-Conviction Justice Project’s casework was overseen by directing attorney and USC Gould School of Law Clinical Professor Heidi Rummel.

"We asked the court the to review all of her convictions," said Rummel of Jones, "It's our belief that she shouldn't have been convicted of anything...but we decided that coming out of prison today was better than spending a few more years fighting the case." 

Jones' release was rare--fewer than 500 people have been exonerated of murder, including manslaughter, since 1989, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.

Jones was originally convicted of first-degree murder in 1982 for her role in the robbery and murder of a drug dealer on April 3, 1981, though her then-boyfriend Mose Willis was responsible for luring the two men and killing one of them in an attempt to steal cocaine. Willis was was also convicted of first-degree murder and died on death row in 1988.

"This is the area we work in, representing women serving life terms who are seeking parole," said Rummel, who estimated that the Post Conviction Project has helped release 60 inmates, mostly women, in the past 15 years.

"There's a penal code prevision that allows you to challenge convictions in court if you can show that your history of abuse is directly related to the absence of expert testimony...we’ve had a couple clients who have prevailed under that section of the penal code, but there are a lot of clients who are denied," he added.

Additionally, the use of expert testimony in intimate partner battering cases is a practice which is still not entirely common, said Rummel, though it affects many incarcerated women.

"Honestly most of the women [in prison] can’t afford lawyers," said Rummel. "It takes a lot of money and resources to bring a case like this."

Donaldson and Fahey managed Jones' case, arguing that if the jury had heard expert testimony on the effects of intimate partner battering, formerly known as Battered Women’s Syndrome, she would not have been convicted of murder.

"This was an amazing outcome," said Donaldson, a second-year law student who began working on Jones' case in August. "It might seem like an extraordinary case, but there are a lot of women who are in similar positions and would be helped by expert testimony."

(Jones prior to her conviction/Courtesy of USC Gould)

The Post Conviction Justice Project students' work on Jones' case eventually spurred an independent investigation by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, which led to an agreement to dismiss Jones' previous convictions of first-degree murder and robbery. Under the agreement, Jones would still have to plead no contest to involuntary manslaughter, as the DA argued that, even with expert testimony Jones would have still originally been convicted of manslaughter, but would not serve any more time in prison or be put on probation.

"So many of our clients are extraordinary... but Mary really is an extraordinary woman," said Rummel. "In the face of life without parole sentence, she always knew that justice would come, and she's obviously thrilled, delighted and appreciative, but she was very clear from the first time I met her that this was going to happen."

Prior to her arrest, Jones served as an L.A. Unified teacher's aide and was active in her church. Upon her release, Jones was reunited with her 53-year-old daughter Denitra Jones-Goodie and her son Robert, whom she had not seen in 30 years. 

"She had more confidence than me knowing that odds were not so much in her favor," said Rummel. "But Mary was always positive and patient, and she continued to live good life even though she was imprisoned and could have been angry and bitter, but that just wasn’t her nature."

Reach Staff Reporter Olivia Niland here. Follow Olivia Niland on Twitter @olivianiland.